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Legislators in North Carolina and throughout the Southeast and Midwest are proposing cuts in higher education to deal with their budget shortfalls. North Carolina has called for a 7 percent reduction in higher education. NPR's Adam Hochberg reports the proposal has met with student protest rallies and prompted administrators to say they will have to cut course selections and lay off faculty.

It costs a lot of money to rent a tuxedo for the prom. So Aaron Theisen has decided not to wear one. It's not that he can't swing the cost. He thinks the money can be better used. Theisen is donating the amount he'd otherwise spend on a tux to the Cystic Fibrosis foundation. And he's convinced some other kids to follow. Noah Adams talks with Aaron Theisen, a high school senior at Marquette University High School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

NPR's Elizabeth Arnold reports on preparations for what's expected to be another bad wildfire season in the West. But federal agencies are also getting the jump on fires by setting prescribed burns in some forests, in an effort to prevent them from burning out of control.

NPR's Gerry Hadden reports thousands of Mexican guest workers who worked in the United States during World War II say they have never received the money that was set aside for their retirement. With interest, the retirement fund would be considerably bigger today. Class action suits and a new commission in Mexico are trying to find out what happened to the money.

After nearly three years of war in Congo, an American aid agency says the conflict has cost close to 3 million lives. Robert Siegel talks with Dr. Les Roberts, an epidemiologist and the director of Health Policy for the International Rescue Committee in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

NPR's Kenneth Walker in Luanda reports on a young Angolan artist, who is attracting growing international attention. The artist, known as Zaytubia, lost both his hands and one eye in a grenade explosion, but still manages to paint by grasping his brushes between his elbows.

The president opened the doors of the White House today to celebrate completion of his first 100 days in office. The guests of honor were the members of Congress, nearly 200 of whom actually took the president up on his offer of a free lunch. NPR's Don Gonyea reports that the weather was warm and the mood was as well.

Commentator Patrick Maney says the fascination with the first 100 days of the American presidential term started with the successes of President Franklin Roosevelt.

NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports a team of American engineers is on its way to the island of Hainan where they will inspect the U.S. surveillance plane that was forced to land there after a midair collision with a Chinese jet fighter on April 1. The team will evaluate how best to move the plane and bring it back to the United States. U.S.-China cooperation on this matter is seen as a positive development in the often troubled relationship.

Robert Siegel talks with Puerto Rico Governor Sila Maria Calderon about her opposition to the use of the island of Vieques for target practice by the U.S. Navy. Protestors had threatened to bury themselves on the Vieques firing range, and military exercises there were delayed today while the Navy made sure the range was cleared.